My original plan was to do the Apologia Botany course. Well, we ended up moving right at the beginning of our school year, so science got put on the back burner. Plus I didn’t think things through clearly enough, and starting a botany course at the beginning of the fall season in upstate New York just wasn’t ideal. I decided it would be best to start the course in the spring. Then we added a new family member a few months later and science was the farthest thing from my mind.

At the beginning of the year, we were given the opportunity to review the Apologia Zoology 1 curriculum. This was perfect timing since I wanted to hit the books again with the kids and I wasn’t ready to start up Botany yet. Even though it was winter in upstate New York and there aren’t many birds or insects to explore, we were still able to get our feet wet and do the first couple chapters of the curriculum. We then put it on hold again for a few months (as we were planning another move – but that’s a whole other post!), and started it back up when spring arrived.

We started back in with the last chapter in the book about “leps” (butterflies, skippers, and moths). We are currently in the middle of the bird part of the course and then we will move onto insect.

Here is a little peak at our year:

Here the boys are doing an activity to learn how air pressure works.

The gliders we made for an experiment to determine which wing design (short & wide or long & narrow) would enable our glider to fly the farthest.

Performing the glider experiment.

Our two bird feeders to determine which food the birds in our yard prefer.

We ordered a butterfly kit from Insect Lore so we could see the life cycle of a butterfly up close and personal. Here are our caterpillars getting ready to turn into chrysalises.

Our kit came with 5 caterpillars and all of them ended up becoming butterflies!

Observing the butterflies.

We ended the butterfly unit by making an edible life cycle (I got this idea from Pinterest). My strong-willed, reluctant learner (that’s him on the left) just loved the lesson on butterflies! I have no doubt that all my kids will remember lots of butterfly facts; they all thoroughly enjoyed this chapter.

These last three pictures are actually from a few years ago. Our local children’s museum has a Butterfly Garden and these pictures were taken at a visit there. We plan on heading back there now that we have finished up our lesson on “leps.”

So we will be spending our summer finishing up our bird studies and having fun hunting down insects.

I’m not sure what next year holds for science (and even if I did have a plan, it’s not guaranteed that it would pan out, as I’ve learned), but I do know that it will most likely be a course from Apologia!

This sounds a lot like the way our school goes most years, you never know what life will bring. In those cases we are able to finish up in the summer, like you, and it all ends up working out in the end. Thanks for the post, love your pics!

My sons are getting a butterfly garden for their birthdays this month! We’ll definitely do your edible project with it! You most definitely have had a busy year! Two moves and a baby! Sheesh! You’re incredible.

I’m going to have to try this out this Summer, great photos!!!! Love the Yummy Project!!

Hi! I'm Sarah.

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